76 D A V I IJ M.

II U N J S

40. The language used in what appears to be the first playin Modern Iudezmo Chapter5
is analyzed in D. M. Bunis,"Pyesa di Yaakov Avinu kun sus ijus (Bucharest, 1862):
The First Iudezmo Play?" Revue des Etudes[uives 154, nos. 3-4 (1995): 387-428.
41. For various views on this "question:' see D. M. Bunis, "Modernization and
the 'Language Question' among the Iudezmo-Speaking Sephardim of the Otto­
man Empire," in Sephardi and Middle Eastern lewries: History and Culture in the
Literatures of Medieval Sepharad
Modern Era, ed. H. E. Goldberg (Bloomington: University of Indiana, 1996),
226-39·
42. Most of Franco's essay is reproduced in D. M. Bunis, The ludezmo Lan­ Jonathan P. Deeter
guage (in Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Magnes, and Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
1999),377-81.

During the first half of the eleventh century, the Jewish poet and philoso­
pher Solomon Ibn Gabirol (c. 1020-C. 1057) decried the decline of Sephar­
die Jews' knowledge of Hebrew: "Half of them speak Edomese and half of
them the language of Qedar that darkens,"! Ibn Gabirol meant that Jews
had neglected Hebrew and knew only the other languages of the Iberian
Peninsula: Hispano-Romance, the language of Christians (descendants of
the biblical Esau, whose nickname was Edom [Genesis 25:30]), and Arabic,
the language of Muslims (descendants of Ishmael, father of Qedar [Gene­
sis 25:13]). Like Muslims and Christians in al-Andalus (Islamic Spain),
Jews spoke mainly Arabic and a form of Hispano-Romance.' When Ibn
Gabirol identified Arabic as the language of Muslims and Romance as the
language of Christians, he was probably referring to the communities in
which each language originated, since Muslims, Christians, and Jews all
spoke Arabic and Romance in eleventh-century al-Andalus.
In their literary writing, the Jews of al-Andalus used Hebrew, Arabic,
and Hispano-Romance to varying degrees. Some authors wrote in more
than one language, sometimes even within the same work. During the
twelfth century, the centers of Jewish life in the Iberian Peninsula moved
from the Islamic south to the kingdoms of the Christian north. In Chris­
tian Spain, the dialects of Spanish (descendants of the Romance dialect)
gradually emerged as the Jewish vernacular, though Arabic continued to
be respected as a language of learning and sophistication for the edu­
cated class. Jewish literary works in the dialects of Spanish were rare but
significant.
For nearly fifty years, scholars have hailed medieval Iberia as a unique
convivencia through which Muslims, Christians, and Jews interacted to
produce the single entity of Spanish culture.' Medieval Sephardic writing

77
78 JON A T HAN P. DEC T E R Literatures of Medieval Sepharad 7'J

testified to the profound influence of non-Jewish culture upon its forms, credited with composing the first nonliturgical Hebrew poems since the
themes, aesthetics, and worldview. At the same time, the culture of me­ Bible and with introducing medieval philosophical and theological con­
dieval Spain could not have taken form but for the active participation of cepts into Hebrew verse. He wrote the Agron (Gatherer), also known
Jews, Muslims, and Christians. as Kitab Usul al-Shi'r al- 'Ibrani (The Book of the Principles of Hebrew
Poetry), which was the first book designed as a manual of Hebrew poetics.
Saadia's verse may be seen as a link between the ancient piyyut and the
AI-Andalus Arabized poetry of the Sephardic school."
Toward the end of the tenth century, a North African student of
In al-Andalus, as in the rest of the Arabic-speaking world, Arabic was the
typical language of Jewish writing for anything but belles lettres. Virtually
Saadia's named Dunash Ibn Labrat revolutionized Hebrew poetry in al­
Andalus. By the time of Dunash's arrival, the province had grown to a cos­
III
I 11111

all Jewish expositions on philosophy, theology, mathematics, and so on, mopolitan intellectual center with a grand capitol at Cordoba. It was

were written in Arabic, usually in Hebrew characters. Such writing was around the so-called courtier Jews that the Hebrew literary culture of al­

called Judeo-Arabic, though there was often little to distinguish it from the Andalus took form. The composition of poetry by and for men of power

contemporary language of non-Jews." Letter writing was executed almost was one of the hallmarks of the medieval Sephardic literary tradition. 1IIIIIillll,

exclusively in Judeo-Arabic, though sophisticated letters often included Dunash invented a system that made Hebrew poetry sound like Arabic
Hebrew or Aramaic quotations from canonical Jewish texts and saluta­ poetry. The Arabic language naturally consisted of vowels of short and
tions in a florid Hebrew style. long duration, which lent themselves to meters whose rhythms were dis­
tinct and memorable. To the medieval Jewish sophisticate, the Hebrew
poetry of the Palestinian and Iraqi schools felt arrhythmic. Dunash syn­
Hebrew Poetry in al-Andalus thetically imposed a system of long and short vowels on the Hebrew
language so that it could mimic the rollicking meters of Arabic. By add­
Late tenth-century al-Andalus witnessed a revolution in the composition ing monorhyme, another prosodic requirement of classical Arabic poetry,
of Hebrew poetry." Yet, in order to understand the development and role Dunash's innovation allowed Jews to participate through the medium
of Hebrew poetry in medieval Spain, a brief historical review is in order. of their own historical language. The famous scholar, S. D. Goitein, called
The Hebrew Bible contains many poetic sections, including songs such the Hebrew poetry of the Sephardic School the "acme of Jewish-Arab
as the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15) and the Song of Deborah (Judges 5), as symbiosis." 10
well as poetic books such as Psalms and Job. Between the fifth and seventh Virtually all medieval Sephardic poets adopted Dunash's innovation.
centuries, liturgical poetry (called piyyut) for the synagogue service flour­ Moses Ibn Ezra maintained that the finest form of Hebrew poetry was
ished in Byzantine Palestine. Since the poetics of the ancient piyyut were that composed after the Arabic model." However, Judah Halevi, Ibn Ezra's
complex and opaque, digesting it entailed the recognition of rare vocabu­ younger contemporary, expressed much ambivalence toward the metrical
lary, foreign words, complex grammatical forms, and a vast repertoire of innovation, at times condemning it as the ultimate cultural sell-out.'?
allusions from Jewish sources." The Talmud also includes numerous poetic The choice of Hebrew as a poetic language may be the greatest ex­
sections'? pression of Jewish self-assertion, even nationalist aspiration, during this
In tenth-century Islamic Baghdad, a poetic trend was initiated by the period. The Hebrew poems of al-Andalus utilized a high register of the
head of the Babylonian academy, Sa'iadia Gaon. This trend tended toward language that sought to emulate the diction and style of biblical Hebrew
a more transparent style, relying mainly on biblical vocabulary and dic­ while suppressing elements that had crept into the language following the
tion. Saadia composed the first Bible commentary, the first complete Bible's canonization. The composition of literary texts in a refined biblical
prayer book, the first theological treatise, and the first monographs dedi­ style was greatly facilitated by concurrent achievements in the study of
cated to discrete legal subjects." In the field of poetry, Saadia may be Hebrew grammar and biblical exegesis. 13
 lio JONATHAN P. DEeTl!1{
Literatures of Medieval Sepharad 81

By adhering to the biblical style, Jewish authors were able to compete

The Hebrew poet recalls the effacement of the Jewish encampment par
with "Arabiyya (Arabism), which asserted the superiority of the Arabic lan­
excellence, the Temple in Jerusalem, where God and Israel once met as
guage over other tongues, and the Islamic doctrine Pjaz al-Gurian (The
"lovers." Once home to gracious gazelles, the abandoned camp became
Inimitability of the Qur'an),14 which affirmed the rhetorical perfection of
inhabited with carnivorous animals. In the second part of the poem, the
the Qur'an as the revealed word of God. As Ross Brann put it, the Bible
lovesick Gazelle (Israel), caught in the fetters of Edom (Christendom) and
came to be regarded as a "Jewish Qur'an," a literary model whose emula­
amongst the Arabs (indicating Islam), calls out to her lover (God). In the
tion signified an assertion of Jewish nationalism even as it testified to the
final verse, Israel muses nostalgically through the language of the Song of
Arabized cultural values of Andalusian Iews." It may be because of the
Songs (2:5), long understood in the Jewish tradition as an allegory of the
near-obsession with biblical Hebrew as a rhetorical model that examples of
love between Israel and God.
belletristic texts by Jewish authors in other languages are relatively rare.
The Hebrew poetry of al-Andalus also carried the imprint of contem­
Beyond prosodic features, the Hebrew poetry of al-Andalus was deeply
porary philosophical culture. Neoplatonic philosophy was of great interest
indebted to the Arabic tradition for its thematic material. By the tenth cen­
to the Andalusian poets." Many poems on the soul originated as intro­
tury, Arabic developed a rich and varied poetic tradition, ranging from the
ductions to the prayer beginning, "The soul of All praises God." Solomon
desert poetry of the pre-Islamic period (the Jahiliya period) to the urban
Ibn Gabirol captured numerous aspects of Neoplatonic soul theory:
poetry of the Abbasid and Andalusian periods. Arabic poems on wine and
garden description were imitated extensively in secular Hebrew verse.
For you, like God, have everlasting life,

Themes of Arabic love poetry, recast in the language of the Bible (especially
And He is hidden just as you are hid;

the Song of Songs), penetrated secular as well as sacred Hebrew poetry. 16

And is your God immaculate and pure?

The most famous theme of Iahiliya poetry was al-buka" "ala al-atlal
You too are pure, you too are innocent.

(Arabic, "weeping over the ruins"). According to the topos, the poet ar­
The Mighty One bears the heavens in His arm,

rived at the remnants of an abandoned campsite, and began to weep. The

Just as you bear the mortal, speechless clay.

sight of the ruins triggered a series of memories that whisked the reader
My soul, greet God, your Rock, with gifts of praise,

back in time to the idyllic days of the tribe's presence.'? Hebrew poets
For nothing has He put on earth like you.

exploited the nostalgic tone of this theme in national and personal poems
My body, bless your Rock for evermore,

of exile. The following poem by Moses Ibn Ezra (c. ross-ufter 1138) on the
To whom the soul of All sings ever praise.P

subject of Israel's exile fused the themes of al-buka C ala al-atlal and love
poetry,
The subject of this poem is the soul, taken from her celestial home, now
confined within the prison of the body. The soul is bound to the lowly
Hurry to the lover's camp,

body. The path toward reunification with her celestial abode lies with the
Dispersed by Time, a ruin now;

sublime soul contemplating her bond with her Creator.

Once the haunt of love's gazelles,

Hebrew poets of al-Andalus also composed "secular poetry" or the

Wolves' and lions' lair today.

"poetry of entertainment'?' that reflected the lifestyle of an aristocratic

class whose values approximated those of their Muslim contemporaries.
From far away I hear Gazelle,

The following poem by Samuel ha-Nagid (993-C. 1055) describes a garden:

From Edorn's keep and Arab's cell,

Mourning the lover of her youth,

We went out to the flowerbeds of the garden,

Sounding lovely,ancient words:

Arranged in it like lines in a scroll ...

"Fortify me with lovers' flasks,

The wine pourer filled a cup with rubies,

Strengthen me with sweets of love.n l B

And set it on a boat of variegated papyrus.

 112 JON A T HAN P. DEC T E R

Literatures of Medieval Sepharad 83

He sent the cup like a bride in her palanquin

Over to the drinker, her groom,

The beloved was almost always unattainable. Even in poems wherein
Who drank and returned his cup,
the poetic speaker recounted a seemingly nonfictitious experience, it is
debatable whether the poem should be understood as the author's per­
And addressed the servant as at the start ...
sonal experience or as a kind of literary fashion.
Like the activity of friends drinking
Samuel ha-Nagid, vizier of the Berber prince of Granada, Badis Ibn
In a round garden along a canal,
Habbus, was the only Jewish poet to write poems recounting experiences
There is no activity.-?
in battle. He boastfully pronounced himself the "David of the Age;' for
David was known both as a mighty conqueror and as a delicate poet who
wrote the Psalms. Solomon Ibn Gabirol emerged as an introspective poet
This scene was typical of a medieval Arab wine party. The poem strik­
consumed with the philosophical quest, his own genius, and misfortune.
ingly resembled contemporary Arabic garden poetry." Drinking compan­
He presented himself as a social misfit, shunned by contemporaries for his
ions consumed wine served by a professional wine pourer. Everything
incendiary personality and sickly appearance. Moses Ibn Ezra, who was
about this garden was round. The canal was round like the heavens that
forced to flee Muslim Spain after the Almoravid conquest from North
encompassed the sphere of the earth. The flowerbeds were lines in the
Africa (1090), portrayed himself as an isolated prisoner trapped in the cul­
scroll of the garden. Likewise, the activity in the scene was cyclical. The
turally barren environment of Christian Spain, the land of his refuge.
wine pourer sent the cup over a pool to the drinker who drank and
Judah Halevi composed a series of poems during his famous journey to
returned the cup to be refilled, a cycle that could continue indefinitely.
the Land of Israel that portrayed him as a devout pilgrim imbued with a
The feeling of circularity was captured even in the syntax of the conclud­
prophetic spirit."
ing verse, which began and ended with the same word ("Like the activity
Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089-1164) was the last poet of the "Golden Age" of
... There is no activity"). The overall sense of delight and ease was rein­
forced by the circularity of poetic space and time.24 al-Andalus and a conduit of Iudeo-Arabic culture to the Christian world."
Ibn Ezra commemorated the destruction of cities in al-Andalus in a mov­
The wine pourer, who is rather nondescript in the poem above, fre­
ing poem,
quently played a coquettish and erotic function for the pleasure of the
aristocratic drinkers. For example, in a short poem by Samuel ha-Nagid,
Woe for calamity has descended upon Spain from the heavens!

the (male}" wine pourer, seeing the wine cup in the drinker's hand,
My eyes, my eyes flow with water.

demands, "Drink the blood of grapes from between my lips!"26 Medieval

My eye weeps like an ostrich's for the city of Lucena!

Hebrew (and Arabic) verse treating the erotic may be described best as
Without guilt, the Exile dwelled there untroubled,

"poetry of desire" or "poetry of passion" rather than "love poetry." The

Undisturbed for one thousand and seventy years.

poems generally did not recount episodes of actual experience, but rather,
She became like a widow when the day arrived and her people departed....

feelings of unconsummated longing. The following excerpts from a poem

For this I weep and strike my hand; lamentation is constantly in my mouth.

by Moses Ibn Ezra illustrated this type of eroticism well,

I cannot be silent so I exclaim, "Would that my heart were water!'?"

The wine pourer speaks languidly,

Though he fells mighty men

The strophic form of the poem was sustained by concluding each
With his soft words.
stanza with the word "water." The poet lamented through rituals men­
His eyes are wide with magic,
tioned in the Bible (weeping like an ostrich, striking the hand, shaving the
They are beautiful,
head) and, referred to the cities of al-Andalus by name, a practice seldom
They are sorcerers.
found in earlier poetry," The act of naming in this poem served as a
means of commemoration, a way of setting the period of al-Andalus
 84 JONATHAN P. DEeTER
Literatures of Medieval Sepharad 85

firmly in the past. After Ibn Ezra, Hebrew poetry lay dormant for a gener­ "Kiss my mouth, love! Let that be enough for you!
ation until it regenerated on the soil of Christian Spain. Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me on the mouth
And forget, my love, all about your sadness!" (Arabic in italicsj"

Arabic and Romance in Poems by Jews in al-Andalus In 1948, the Arabist S. M. Stern discovered that a number of Hebrew
muwashshahs concluded not with a kharja in Arabic but, rather, in His­
Arabic poems by at least eleven Iberian Jewish authors were preserved in pano-Romance." These kharjas were the earliest traces of Hispano-Ro­
Arabic sources such as biographical dictionaries and poetry collections mance ever documented. While scholars debated whether or not the
compiled by Muslims." For example, Ibn Sa'id al-Andalusi contained an Romance kharjas represented the surviving remnants of a full-fledged tra­
entry in his Banners of the Champions and Standards of the Elite on the dition of Romance song," the muwashshah was an undisputed testimony to
Jewish poet Abu Ayyub Suleiman Ibn al-Muallim, the bilingual (or in the case of Jews, trilingual) literary climate of al­
Andalus.
Abu Ayyub the Jew. My father told me that he was employed in the pri­ Mention should also be made of a highly unconventional bilingual
vate service of the Commander of the Muslims CAli son of Yusuf son of poem by Solomon Ibn Gabirol that opened with an address to the soul,
Tashufin. My father also recited to me some verses, which Abu Ayyub had urging her to return to her celestial abode with her Maker,40
composed about a knife sent by him to his beloved who subsequently aban­
doned him:
What is the matter, my SOul,41 that you sit silent like a king in captivity,

When I sent you that knife, I thought its name was an omen, and Gathering ostrich wings and dragging the hem of sorrow?

indeed the augury and presage came true: the knife signifies that you How long will your heart mourn, how many tears will you shed?

are inhabiting'" my heart, its cutting signifies rupture and distance. 33 You have cleaved to sorrow so much that you have hewn out a grave within it!

Wait quietly, my soul, for God! Wait quietly and do not despair!

The same author was praised by Moses Ibn Ezra as one "who [per­ Stand and keep watch until the Enthroned One looks and beholds you.

formed] sorcery in both the Hebrew and Arabic tongues."34 Arabic poems
by Judah al-Harizi and by the poetess Qasmuna also survive.v Toward the end of the lengthy poem, the poet lamented his fate as a
A number of Hebrew poems included Arabic in their concluding social outcast, yearning to depart from his boorish contemporaries. In a
verses. These poems adhered to a poetic form adopted from Andalusian fury of self-pity, the language of the poem switched mid-verse from He­
Arabic literature called the muwashshah (Arabic, "girdle poem"),36 a brew to Arabic while maintaining the same meter and rhyme:
strophic form that utilized variations on the classical scheme of meter and
rhyme. Within the corpus of Andalusian Arabic poetry, the concluding Alas to you, 0 land of my enemies, now you are forsaken!
verse (called the kharja) of the muwashshah often switched from classical I have no portion in you whether you are welcoming or hostile.
Arabic to vernacular Arabic. Rather than merely changing registers within It is my heart's desire to depart; when will you, my soul, fulfill your task?
a single language, the Hebrew poems actually changed languages. The Lo, I am caught among cattle, Woe for what has befallen me!
kharja was frequently a quotation placed in the mouth of a character Woe for the people ofgood fortune who did not understand my purpose!
within the poem. For example, in a poem of desire by Judah Halevi, the Woe for I dwell among them and am bound to them!
lovesick suitor pined away as the hard-to-get beloved flirted in a mixture Woe for the time of my rejection that left me utterly bewildered!
of Hebrew and Arabic,
Woe for my home, my desirefor it has grown short!
I have remained there alone so that I wish only to depart!
His song splits my heart,

Incivility has replaced my speech! Only God knows my path!

He sings to ignite my flames of desire,

(Arabic in italics)
 86 ION AT HAN P. DEC T E R Literatures afMedieval Sepharad 87

The shocking switch to Arabic in the final verses offers the reader a rare Hebrew Poetry
glimpse of raw emotion. Even Ibn Gabirol, who lamented the Jews' neglect
of Hebrew in favor of foreign tongues, found the language of Qedar In Christian Spain, the ability to compose poetry continued to be one of the
appropriate for expressing his most personal feelings. prerequisites of the learned man. Famous Talmudists such as Meir Abulafia
and Moses Ben Nahman were skilled in poetic composition. The Hebrew
poetics of Christian Spain largely followed those of al-Andalus with respect
Christian Spain to genre, theme, and prosody. However, the literary output did not merely
ape the conventions of the former era. Todros Halevi Abulafia (1247-after
Beginning with the Reconquista's capture of Islamic Toledo (1085), the 1298) breathed new vitality into poetry while adhering to the prosodic fea­
Christian North emerged as the new center of Sephardic life.42 Abraham tures of the Andalusian school." In love poetry, Todros spoke of the frus­
Ibn Daud, author of the Hebrew historical narrative The Book of Tradition trated love of the Islamic period, love consummated, and of spiritual love,
(1161) explained that the transfer of the Jewish population from south to
north was divinely ordained, Daily she afflicts me with her wandering and gives my eyelids no sleep,
Though I do not think of touching her ever-what is my life worth that I
The rebels (the Almohads) against the Philistine Kingdom (the Almora­ might touch her?
vids) had crossed the sea to Spain after having spared no remnant of Jews I know that her mouth holds a honeycomb sea while I die of thirst!
from Tangiers to al-Mahdiya.... Some [Jews] were taken captive by the It would be enough for me to hear sweet words and behold her lovelyform!
Christians, to whom they willingly indentured themselves.... Others fled If I could hear or behold her, no trouble would remain with me.
on foot, naked and barefoot, their feet stumbling upon the mountains of With her appearance she revives the dead, with her word she lifts the fallen.
twilight.43 My desire for her is not to delight in the body but only to delight in the soul."

Like many of his contemporaries, Ibn Daud believed that Christian The speaker's desire is spiritual rather than sensual, even if the beloved
Spain could serve as surrogate soil for replanting Andalusian Jewish lead­ is unattainable, like the wine pourer in the poem by Moses Ibn Ezra. This
ership and culture. poem testifies to the spirit of a new age.46
Christian Spain provided a viable site for Andalusian culture to survive The composition of poetry in the style of the Andalusian school con­
and flourish. Jews played an essential role in the enterprise of translating tinued into the fifteenth century." In fact, Hebrew poems survived that
Arabic texts into Latin (usually translating the Arabic into Castilian orally were exchanged between members of the so-called Saragossa School
in the presence of a Christian, who would then translate it into Latin). In (including Don Vidal Benveniste, Solomon da Piera, Solomon Bonafed,
Christian Spain and in Provence, Arabic and Iudeo-Arabic philosophical and Joseph Ben Lavi) even after some of its members had converted to
and scientific works were translated into Hebrew. New works on these Christianity." One dominant structural feature of the poetry of Christian
subjects were also written in Hebrew. Spain was the use of a "return verse"-the practice of beginning and end­
Naturally, the reemergence of Hebrew belletristic writing was central to ing a poem with the same sentence or phrase. The work of critically edit­
the Jewish cultural renaissance in Christian Spain. The revival of Hebrew ing and analyzing this poetic corpus is still incomplete.
belles lettres had been seen by some as an epigonic "Silver Age:' a dim
reflection of the Golden Age of al-Andalus. In truth, the Hebrew literature
of Christian Spain can be merited as a continuation of the tradition of al­ Hebrew Fiction
Andalus and as an innovative corpus. Hebrew authors wrote volumes of
rhymed, metered poetry and many fictional narratives in rhymed prose, a The most conspicuous difference between the Hebrew literary environ­
form represented in al-Andalus by only a single text. ments of al-Andalus and Christian Spain was the dominance of the
 88 JON A T HAN P. DEC T E R Literatures of Medieval Sepharad 89

rhymed prose fictional narrative in the latter. The prosodic features of "Enan Hanatas son of Oman Hadesh," and Ibn Zabara began a journey
these texts-a loose rhyming prose with rhymed, metered poems inter­ together in which they exchanged knowledge and lodged in various cities,
spersed-derived from an eastern Arabic form called the maqama. The among other activities." The travelers ultimately alighted in Enan's city,
Arabic maqama was invented in tenth-century Nishapur (modern Iran) rife with sin and mischief, where Enan revealed that he was actually a
by Badi" al-Zarnan (the "Wonder of the Age") al-Hamadhani (d. 1008). He demon. The letters in his name could be reversed to expose his true self:
fashioned existing genres into lively fictional narratives revolving around Enan Hasatan son of Oman Hashed, meaning Enan the Satan son of
the travels and encounters of two main characters, a narrator and a pro­ Oman the Demon!
tagonist rogue. Although plot structure varied from episode to episode, a Judah Ibn Shabbetai's (1168-c. 1225) Gift ofJudah the Misogynist'" was a
few elements prevailed in the classical maqama: fine rhetoric, the mendac­ Hebrew parody in which the youth Zerah swore off women to devote
ity of the protagonist, the gullibility of the narrator, and the narrator's himself to the pursuit of wisdom. Central to the group's identity was the
ultimate recognition of the protagonist. belief in the wanton and nefarious nature of women. Zerah learned
Al-Hamadhani's form was not imitated until the arrival of a collection misogyny from his father, who was granted a prophetic experience in
of maqamat by the more rhetorically sophisticated author al-Qasim Ibn which an angel spoke,
cAli al-Hariri of Basra (d. 1122). By the twelfth century, al-Hariri's maqa­
mat achieved a canonical status, meriting memorization, public recitation, If (men's) sins and debts are grave, it is because their wives incline their
copious commentaries, and a translation into Hebrew. In al-Andalus, the hearts.... Were it not for (the women's) earrings, the golden calf would not
Arabic maqama developed in ways that departed from the Eastern tradi­ have been made! ... Abraham, on account of his upright deeds, never had a
tion. Some examples abandoned normative elements such as the narrator/ daughter.... Because of whom did Samson's strength falter? ...
protagonist dichotomy, the ruse, or the concluding recognition scene.'? Behold Pharaoh's wisdom and consider his insight when he gave won­
Even after the Islamic context faded, the Arabic influence on Jewish cul­ drous counsel for persecuting the Israelites:
ture persisted. However, Hebrew maqamat (sometimes called mahbarot, He afflicted them and increased their grief by killing the boys but spar­
compositions in Hebrew) cannot be seen as a curious revival of the Arabic ing the girls!"
literary form only. Their production is best understood as an outcome of
the complex interaction of Hebrew, Arabic, and European literatures in Zerah preached the misogynist cult of celibacy abroad, eliciting a ven­
the Iberian Peninsula. omous response from women everywhere. The women devised to trick
The earliest Hebrew maqama, Solomon Ibn Saqbel's Asher Son ofJudah Zerah by exposing him to a beautiful and eloquent maiden and pressing
Spokes" (first half of twelfth century), was composed in al-Andalus accord­ him into marriage before he knew what hit him. Using the ruse of the veil,
ing to the prosodic features of the Arabic maqama. It owed much of its the beauty Zerah had beheld was switched with a hideous and quarrel­
thematic content to European notions of courtly 10veY In the story, Asher some hag.
was humiliated when he was led to a veiled woman who he believed was A debate immediately ensued among the throng of bystanders as to
his beloved. He lifted the veil and found "a long beard, a face like death whether Zerah should be allowed to divorce his wife. The author himself
and a mouth open wide as a steaming cauldron."52 The bearded man stepped into the narrative and declared the whole thing fiction. Thus, the
turned out to be a "friend" of Asher's, a trickster called the "Adulamite" narrative progresses from a scenario of fictional characters, to one in
who ensnared Asher in a ruse. 53 The story fused the theme of courtly love which fictional and real characters intermingle. Although some have
as emerging in the European tradition and the maqama's penchants for linked the story's misogynist strains to the "wiles of women" motif of Ara­
trickery and denouement through recognition. bic literature, its inspiration might be located in misogynist European lit­
Joseph Ibn Zabara's (c. 1150-1209) Book of Delights was a cornucopia of erature and debates over celibacy within the Catholic Church.58
tales, proverbs, and scientific teachings set within the frame narrative of Thus, the earliest Hebrew rhymed prose narratives exhibited great
an imaginative journey. 54 The story began when a mysterious stranger, innovation with respect to plot development and fictional devices." Their
 Literatures of Medieval Sepharad 91
90 JON A T HAN P. DEC T E R

variety was striking, considering that the classical maqama genre was so Lo, the cantor entered and took his honoured seat,and in tones dulcet sweet

conventional and predictable.r" However, the tides soon turned in favor of began the daily blessings, as is meet. According to the practice of our

classicism. nation, he begged God's lumination, thundering, Make the words of Thy

Judah al-Harizi's (1165-1225) Tahkemoni'" was the collection of He­ Torah pheasant in our mouth, rather than pleasant in our mouth; and May

brew maqamat most faithful to the Arabic parent literature/? Born in the Lordflavour you and grant you peas, instead of May the Lordfavour you

Toledo, al-Harizi began his career as a translator of Arabic and Iudeo­ and grant you peace. In the next section of the service, his zealmounting, he

Arabic legal, philosophical, and belletristic works into Hebrew/" Fa­ made errors beyond counting. For It is our duty to bless and hallow Thy

mously, al-Harizi composed a fluid translation of Maimonides' Guide of name he said It is our duty to blast and hollow Thy name; for Exalt the Lord

the Perplexed commissioned by notables in Provence who had requested a our God, he said, Assault the Lord our God; for Praise the Lord 0 my soul, he

translation in "simple and clear words."64 said Prize the Lard, 0 my soul; for Thine, 0 Lord is the greatness and the

Before undertaking the Tahkemoni, al-Harizi composed a rhymed prose power, he said Thine, 0 Lord, is the gratings and the flour; for Thou rulest

Hebrew translation of al-Hariri's Arabic maqamat, probably in response over all, he said Thou droolest overall. 75
to a challenge that their perfection could not be imitated." In his transla­
tion, titled Mahbarot "Itti" el,66 al-Harizi strived to capture the sense of the Although the scene was intended to be humorous, its setting in a real
original while creating a new work that was belletristic in its own right. city of the Islamic East, Mosul of Iraq, suggested that al-Harizi, the wan­
Arabic names were changed to biblical names, cities around the Islamic derer, may have found Jewish learning lacking in the lands of his journey.
world were replaced with biblical place names, and ironic biblical allusions Al-Harizi spent his final years composing Arabic poetry in honor of Mus­
were used." lim patrons" and left an account of his Eastern journeys in Arabic rhymed
Unlike Mahbarot "Itti'el, the Tahkemoni was the work of an author who prose."
left his homeland. Following the classical maqama collection of al-Hariri, Al-Harizi's attempt to restore luster to the Hebrew language was well
the Tahkemoni was comprised of 50 narratives. The constant movement of received in the thirteenth century. In Christian Spain, the Tahkemoni was
characters from place to place imbues the text with the ideal of wanderlust followed by several original works in rhymed prose. Even more than
common in maqama literature. the Hebrew maqamat that predate the Tahkemoni, these narratives re­
Like the Arabic maqama, the Tahkemoni used profound language and veal affinities for the burgeoning literary traditions of Europe.?8 Hebrew
humorous scenarios. Al-Harizi stated that he wrote the book in order to authors in Italy, Egypt, Yemen, Turkey, and Greece continued to utilize
ennoble the Hebrew language, which had "declined appallingly"68 in his rhymed prose for centuries to come.?9
day, and to "demonstrate the power of the Holy Tongue to the Holy
Nation."? Al-Harizi claimed that his book was entirely original, "I took
nothing from the book of the Ishmaelite (al-Hariri)."?" However, it is well Spanish
known among modern scholars that the author borrowed liberally from
al-Hamadhani, al-Hariri, and other Arabic sources." Neither Latin nor the dialects of vernacular Spanish played a role in the
Throughout the Tahkemoni, al-Harizi undertook many literary feats: Jewish culture of Christian Spain comparable to the role of Arabic in al­
the inclusion of an epistle that when read forward was panegyric but when Andalus. There were no Latin literary compositions by medieval Spanish
read backward was invective," a trilingual poem (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Jews.80 Only rarely did Jewish authors compose works in the dialects of
Arabic) in a single rhyme and meter," and a maqama with two speeches Spanish. An example of a Catalan text of Jewish authorship was the Refu­
structured so that every word in the first speech included the letter "resh" tation of Christian Dogmas" by Hasdai Crescas (1340 - C. 1410). This non­
but every word in the second omitted the same letter.?' belletristic work was intended to challenge the abundant polemical
The Tahkemoni was remarkable for its ironic exploitation of traditional literature aimed at the conversion of Jews to Catholicism by persuasion.
texts. David Segal translated one episode: The only example of a belletristic work by a Jew in Castilian was the
92 JON AT HAN P. DEC T E R
Literatures of Medieval Sepharad 93

Proverbios Morales by Santob de Carri6n (d. after 1345), also known as degree of permeability between Jewish and non-Jewish culture. In al­
Shem Tov Ibn Ardutiel. Santob identified himself as a Jew in a self-depre­ Andalus and in Christian Spain, Hebrew retained premier status as the
cating tone, language of literature, demonstrating the impulse to maintain community
and fortify identity. At the same time, Jewish writings in other languages
Many a sword of good and fine steel comes from a torn sheath, and it is and the influence of non-Jewish literature on Hebrew writing indicate the
from the worm that fine silk is made.... For being born on the thornbush, high degree of Jewish acculturation and the Jewish role in the formation
the rose is certainly not worth less, nor is good wine if taken from the lesser of Spanish culture.
branches of the vine. Nor is a hawk worth less, if born in a poor nest; nor Following the Expulsion, Sephardic Jews carried many of the traditions
are good proverbs [ofless value] if spoken by a Jew. 82 developed in the medieval period with them. Liturgical compositions by
Judah Halevi, Solomon Ibn Gabirol, and others adorned Sephardic liturgy
Many of the book's teachings derive from other European proverb collec­ throughout the Diaspora. A canon of Sephardic intellectual culture devel­
tions, though numerous examples clearly emanate from Jewish sources. oped around Judeo-Spanish translations of classic works from the me­
For example, Santob's proverb "In truth, the world subsists through three dieval period. In the peninsula and beyond, conversos composed works in
things: justice, truth, and peace, which comes from these" (lines 1369-72) Spanish that point to Jewish origins, testifying to the ongoing Jewish com­
was an almost verbatim quotation of Rabban Shimon Ben Gamliel's state­ ponent in the development of Spanish culture.
ment in the Mishnah, "By three things is the world maintained: by justice,
by truth and by peace" (Abot 1:18).83 Other elements of the book may be
traced to Arabic sources.r' For these reasons, Americo Castro character­ NOTE S
ized the Proverbios Morales as an essential Jewish contribution to Spanish
1. Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Shirei ha-Hol shel Shelomo Ibn Gabirol, ed. H. Brody
literature and hence Spanish civilization.f"
and J. Schirmann (Jerusalem: Schocken, 1974), 169, L 8.
The fifteenth century saw the first glimmerings of Iudeo-Spanish, 2. Consuelo L6pez-Morillas, "Language;' in The Literature of al-Andalus, ed.
which became a normative language of Sephardic writing after the Expul­ Maria Rosa Menocal, Raymond P. Scheindlin, and Michael Sells (Cambridge:
sion. Although a complete Ladino'" Bible did not appear until the six­ Cambridge University Press, 2000), 46-50; David J. Wasserstein, "The Language
teenth century, fragments survive of earlier translation attempts. Some of Situation in al-Andalus," in Studies on the Muwashshah and the Kharja (Proceed­
the earliest Iudeo-Spanish compositions were translations of classic Jew­ ings of the Exeter International Colloquium], ed. Alan Jones and Richard Hitchcock
ish texts such as The Sayings of the Fathers, Judah Halevi's Kuzari, and a (Reading, England: Ithaca, 1991), 1-15. See for information on language in al-
simplified prayer book for women. Other samples included original bel­ Andalus.
letristic compositions such as the Poem of Joseph and a bilingual Hebrew­ 3. Americo Castro, The Structure of Spanish History, trans. Edmund 1. King
Spanish love poem." Iudeo-Spanish ballads among Jews in medieval (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1954)· On the history and limitations
of the term "convivencia," see Thomas F. Glick, "Convivencia: An Introductory
Spain remained a part of the Sephardic oral tradition after the Expulsion
Note;' in Convivencia: Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Spain, ed. Vivian
down to the modern period.f"
B. Mann, Thomas F. Glick, and Ierilynn D. Dodds (New York: Jewish Museum,
1992),1-9; Thomas F. Glick and Oriol Pi-Sunyer,"Acculturation as an Explanatory
Concept in Spanish History;' Comparative Studies in Society and History 11 (1969):
Conclusion
136-54.
4. Joshua Blau, The Emergence and Linguistic Background of Judaeo-Arabic: A
The literature of medieval Sephardic Jews in Hebrew, Arabic, Hispano­ Study of the Origins of Neo-Arabic and Middle Arabic, 3d rev. ed. (Jerusalem: Ben
Romance, and Spanish elucidate the complex cultural environment of Zvi Institute, 1999). [udeo-Arabic texts vary regarding their adherence to the rules
medieval Iberia. Through these texts, the modern reader could explore the of classicalArabic, often incorporate elements of colloquial usage, include Hebrew
 94 JONATHAN P. DEeTER Lucrutures of Medieval Sepharad 95

and Aramaic terms specific to Jewish subjects, and exhibit grammatical peculiari­ 15. Brann, The Compunctious Poet, 25·
ties such as "hypercorrection" (i.e., making grammatical errors as a result of "try­ 16. Raymond P. Scheindlin, Wine, Women, and Death: Medieval Hebrew Poems
ing too hard" to follow grammatical rules). See Blau's work. on the Good Life (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1986). See for informa­
5· The most extensive textbooks on the history of Hebrew poetry in Mus­ tion on wine and love poetry.
lim and Christian Spain are the two volumes by Iefim Schirmann, Toledot ha­ 17. Iaroslav Stetkevych, The Zephyrs of Najd: The Poetics of Nostalgia in the
Shirah ha-i Ivrit bi-Sefarad ha-Muslemit, ed., supplemented, and annotated by Classical Arabic Nasib (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993). See for infor­
Ezra Fleischer (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1995); and idem, Toledot ha-Shirah ha- C Ivrit bi­ mation on the development of this and other themes.
Sefarad ha-Notzrit u-ve-Derom Tzarfat, ed., supplemented, and annotated by Ezra 18. Raymond P. Scheindlin, The Gazelle: Medieval Hebrew Poems on God, Israel,
Fleischer (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1997). Extensive information and bibliography on and the Soul (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 65. Selections re­
the periods and authors discussed in this essay can be found in these volumes. printed from The Gazelle, © 1990, by Raymond Scheindlin, published by The
6. Ezra Fleischer, Shirat ha-Qodesh ha- c Ivrit bi- Yemei ha-Beinayim (Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society with the permission of the publisher, The Jewish Publi­
Keter, 1975). cation Society. Throughout this essay, I point the reader to some of the fine Eng­
7· Aaron Mirsky, Ha-Piyyut: Hitpathuto be-Eretz Yisra'el u-va-Golah (Jerusa­ lish translations of medieval Hebrew verse. Unless indicated otherwise, all transla­
lem: Magnes, 1990). For examples in English translation, see T. Carmi, The Pen­ tions are my own. Other English translations of poems by Moses Ibn Ezra may be
guin Book of Hebrew Verse (New York:Penguin, 1981), 190-94. found in Selected Poems of Moses Ibn Ezra, trans. Solomon Solis-Cohen (Philadel­
8. On Saadia Gaon in general, see Robert Brody, The Geonim ofBabylonia and phia: Jewish Publication Society, 1945).
the Shaping of Medieval Jewish Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 19. Colette Sirat, A History ofJewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages (Cambridge:
235-332. Cambridge University Press, 1985), 57-112; Lenn E. Goodman, ed., Neoplatonism
9· Yosef Tobi, "Satadia Gaon, Poet-Paytan: The Connecting Link between the and Jewish Thought (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992). See for
Ancient Piyyut and Hebrew Arabicised Poetry in Spain;' in Israel and Ishmael: information on Jewish Neoplatonism.
Studies in Muslim-Jewish Relations, ed. Tudor Parfitt (New York: St. Martin's, 20. Scheindlin, The Gazelle, 203. See also Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Selected Poems
2000), 59-77. of Solomon Ibn Gabirol, trans. Peter Cole (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
10. Jews and Arabs: Their Contacts through the Ages (New York: Schocken, Press, 2001).
1964),155-66. For an evaluation of Goitein's concept of "symbiosis;' see Steven M. 21. Tova Rosen and Eli Yassif, "The Study of Hebrew Literature in the Middle
Wasserstrorn, Between Muslim and Jew: The Problem of Symbiosis under Early Ages: Major Trends and Goals," in The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies, ed.
Islam (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995). Martin Goodman, Jeremy Cohen, and David Sorkin (Oxford: Oxford University
11. A. S. Halkin, ed., Kitab al-Muhadara wa'l-Mudhakara (Jerusalem: Mekitzei Press, 2002), 241-94. The enterprise of segregating "sacred" from "secular" verse is
Nirdamim, 1975); See also Raymond P. Scheindlin, "Rabbi Moses Ibn Ezra on the a modern construction of limited use since numerous poems do not fit neatly into
Legitimacy of Poetry," Medievalia et Humanistica n.s. 7 (1976): 101-15. one category or the other. "Secular" poems often assume a religious worldview
12. Ross Brann, The Compunctious Poet: Cultural Ambiguity and Hebrew Poetry while "sacred" poems do not always assume a liturgical context. On the history of
in Muslim Spain (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), 95ff. Also, it the field, see the recent essay by Rosen and Yassif.
should be kept in mind that Dunash's innovation was not utilized in every poem 22. Samuel Ha-Nagid, Diwan (Ben TehiIIim), ed. Dov [arden (Jerusalem: He­
of the Sephardic School. Liturgical poems exist in three metrical forms: those brew Union College, 1966), 283, poem 132.
that are composed in the style of the ancient piyyut, those that follow the Arabic 23. Scheindlin, Wine, Women, and Death, 19-33·
system, and those that strike a compromise between the two systems. Particularly 24. On roundness in poetry, see Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space, trans.
when adorning sections of the liturgy whose form was standardized in the an­ Maria [olas (New York: Orion, 1964), chap. 10. See also the comments by [aroslav
cient piyyut, the medieval poet would defer to the age-old protocols of traditional Stetkevych, The Zephyrs of Najd, 180-81.
form. 25. Iefim Schirmann, "The Ephebe in Medieval Hebrew Poetry:' Sejarad 15
13· Angel Saenz Badillos, "Hebrew Philology in Sefarad: the State of the Ques­ (1955): 55-68; Nehemiah Allony, "Ha-Tzvi ve-ha-Gamal be-Shirat Sefarad," Otzar
ion;' in Hebrew Scholarship and the Medieval World, ed. Nicholas de Lange (New Yehudei Sefarad 4 (1961): 16-42; Norman Roth, '''Deal Gently with the Young
ark: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 38-59. See for a synopsis. Man': Love of Boys in Medieval Hebrew Poetry from Spain," Speculum 57 (1982):
14· The phrase derives from Qur tan 90:18. 20-51. The homoerotic aspect of medieval Hebrew poetry has been the subject of
 96 JON AT HAN P. DEC T E R Literatures oj" Medieval Scpharad 97

considerable discussion in scholarly and popular publications. The works by Andalus: History, Structure, and Meaning of the Kharja (Leiden, the Netherlands:
Schirmann, Allony, and Roth serve as examples. Brill, 1997); James T. Monroe, "Zajal and Muwashshah: Hispano-Arabic Poetry
26. Ha-Nagid, Diwan, 305. See translations in Scheindlin, Wine, Women, and and the Romance Tradition," in The Legacy of Muslim Spain, ed. Salma Khadra
Death, 69; Samuel Ha-Nagid, Selected Poems by Shmuel HaNagid, trans. Peter Cole Jayyusi (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1992),398-419.
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 15. 40. HHSP, vol. 1, 210-12.
27· On Judah Halevi, see Ross Brann, "Judah Halevi," in The Literature of al­ 41. Literally, "only one." Cf. Psalm 22:21.
Andalus, ed. Menocal, Scheindlin, and Sells, 265-81. For samples of Halevi's poetry 42. On this period in general, see Bernard Septimus, Hispano-lewisn Culture in
in English, see Selected Poems of Jehudah Halevi, trans. Nina Salaman (Philadel­ Transition: The Career and Controversies of Ramah (Cambridge: Harvard Univer­
phia: Jewish Publication Society, 1924; repro 1974). sity Press, 1982).
28. Leon Weinberger, Twilight of a Golden Age: Selected Poems of Abraham Ibn 43. Gerson D. Cohen, Sefer ha-Qabbalah: The Book of Tradition by Abraham
Ezra (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1997). Translations of some poems Ibn Daud: A Critical Edition with Translation and Notes (Philadelphia: Jewish Pub­
by Abraham Ibn Ezra can be found there. lication Society, 1967), 70-71, Hebrew section.
29· Israel Levin, Yalqut Avraham Ibn Ezra (in Hebrew) (Haifa, Israel: Keren 44. On Todros Halevi Abulafia, see Brann, The Compunctious Poet, 143-57;
Yisrael Matz, 1985), 101-3. Angel Saenz Badillos, "Hebrew Invective Poetry: The Debate between Todros Abu­
30. Aviva Doren, "Arim ba-Shirah ha-Ivrit bi-Sefarad,' in Sefer Yisra'el Levin, lafia and Phinehas Halevi," Prooftexts 16 (1996): 49-73; Aviva Doron, Meshoret be­
ed. Tova Rosen and Reuven Tzur (Tel Aviv: 1994), vol. 1, 69-78. Hatzar ha-Melekh: Todros Halevi Abulafia-Shirah Ivrit bi-Sefarad ha-Notzrit
C

31. Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Al-Maqqari al-Tilimsani, Nafh al-Tib Min Ghusn (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1989).
al-Andalus al-Ratib, ed. Ihsan C Abbas (Beirut: Dar Al-Kitab Al-"Arabi, 1968), vol. 45. Todros Halevi Abulafia, Gan ha-Meshalim ve-ha-Hidot, ed. David Yellin
3, 522-30; see also Ross Brann, "The Arabized Jews," in The Literature of al­ (Jerusalem: Weiss, 1934), vol. 2, 1 [714], 124-25; HHSP, vol. 2, 435-47,11.15- 21.
Andalus, ed. Menocal, Scheindlin, and Sells, 436. 46. HHSP, vol. 2, 434-35; translation in Brann, The Compunctious Poet, 145·
32 • The words "knife" (sikkin) and "inhabiting" (sukna) are both derived from 47. This area of poetry has not been studied sufficiently. See Raymond P.
the same root (skn). Scheindlin, "Secular Poetry in Fifteenth-Century Spain," in Crisis and Creativity in
33· S. M. Stern, trans., "Arabic Poems by Spanish Hebrew Poets:' in Romanica the Sephardic World: 1391-1648, ed. Benjamin R. Gampel (New York: Columbia
et Occidentaliaa La Memoire de Hiram Peri, ed. M. Lazar (Jerusalem: Magnes, University Press, 1997), 25-37·
1963),258. 48. Schirmann, Toledot . . . ha-Muslemit, 588-93.
34· Halkin, Kitab al-Muhadara wa'l-Mudhakara, 78. 49. Further on the maqama in Spain, see Rina Drory, "The Maqama," in The
35· On Qasmuna, see Maria Angeles Gallego Garcia, ''Approaches to the Study Literature of al-Andalus, ed. Menocal, Scheindlin, and Sells, 83-92; H. Nemah,
of Muslim and Jewish Women in the Medieval Iberian Peninsula: The Poetess ''Andalusian Maqamat;" Journal ofArabic Literature 5 (1974): 83-92. The most clas­
Qasmuna bat Isma'iil," Miscelane de Estudios Arabes y Hebraicos 48 (1999): 63-75, sical of Arabic maqama collections from al-Andalus is that by Abu ai-Tahir
Secci6n de Hebreo. Muhammad Ibn Yusuf al-Saraqusti, AI-Maqamat al-Luzumiyah, trans. James T.
36. On the muwashshah, see Tova Rosen, "The Muwashshah," in The Literature Monroe (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 2002).
of al-Andalus, ed. Menocal, Scheindlin, and Sells, 165-89; on the Hebrew 50. The Hebrew text Neium Asher Ben Yehudah may be found in HHSP, vol. 2,
muwashshah, idem, Le-EzorShir: i\l Shirat ha-Ezor ha- c Ivrit bi-Yemei ha-Beinayim 554-65; for an English translation, see Raymond P. Scheindlin, trans., ''Asher in the
(Haifa, Israel: Hotsa' At Sefarim Sel Universitat Haifa, 1985). See also Maria Rosa Harem:' in Rabbinic Fantasies: Imaginative Narrativesfrom Classical Hebrew Liter­
Menocal, The ArabicRole in Medieval LiteraryHistory: A Forgotten Heritage (Phila­ ature, ed. David Stern and Mark J. Mirsky (New Haven: Yale University Press,
delphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987). 1990),253- 67.
37· Iefim Schirmann, Ha-Shirah ha-"Ivrit bi-Sefarad u-ve-Provans (Jerusalem: 51. Raymond P. Scheindlin, "Fawns of the Palace, Fawns of the Field:' Proof-
Mosad Bialik, DVIR, 1954-56), vol. I, 442. Hereafter referred to as HHSP. texts 6 (1986): 189-203.
38. S. M. Stern, "Les vers finaux en espagnol dans les muwashshahs hispano­ 52. Scheindlin, "Asher in the Harem:' 263·
hebraiques: Une contribution it l'histoire du muwashshah et it l'etude du vieux 53. It is possible that this story was originally one in a series of maqamat
dialecte espagnol 'mozarabe,?' AI-Andalus 13 (1978): 299-346. wherein Asher and the Adulamite are constant characters. This would be consis­
39· See, for example, the discussion in Otto Zwartjes, Love Songs from al- tent with the classical maqama form. One fragment has been discovered with the
 Literatures of Medieval Sepharad 99
98 JON AT HAN P. DEC T E R

same opening phrase, "Asher Son of Judah spoke," but is too sketchy to allow for 65. Al-Harizi explains this as the motive of the undertaking in the Tahkemoni,
solid conclusions. See, however, Ezra Fleischer, "Tnyanei Piyyut ve-Shirah," in chap. 1.
MelJ qarei Sifrut Mugashim le-Shimi on Halkin, ed. Ezra Fleischer (jerusalem: 66. Al-Hariri, Mahbarot o Itti'el, trans. Judah al-Harizi, ed. Yitzhaq Peretz (Tel
Magnes, 1973), 193-204, which argues for single authorship based on stylistic Aviv: Mosad ha-Rav Kook, 1955). The narrator 'Itti'el is named for a wise man in
elements. Proverbs 30:1.
54. Hebrew text, Sefer Sha"ashu: im le-Rav Yosef Ben Meir Ibn Zabara, ed. Israel 67. Iefim Schirmann, Die hebraiscne Ubersetzung der Maqamen des Hariri
Davidson (Berlin: Eshkol, 1925); English translation, The Book of Delight by Joseph (Frankfurt: J. Kauffmann, 1930); Abraham Lavi, "A Comparative Study of al­
Ben Meir Ibn Zabara, trans. Moses Hadas with an introduction by Merriam Sher­ Hariri's Maqamat and Their Hebrew Translation by al-Harizi" (Ann Arbor: Uni­
wood (New York: Columbia University Press, 1932). versity of Michigan Press, 1979)·
55. Merriam Sherwood compares stories in The Book of Delight with European 68. Al-Harizi, Tahkemoni, ed. 'Ioporovsky, 8.
folktales. See Hadas, The Book of Delight, 3-43. 69. Ibid., 12
56. Selections are published in HHSP, vol. 2,67-86; the complete Hebrew text 70. Ibid., 14
can be found in the dissertation of Matti Huss, "'Minhat Yehudah,' "Ezrat ha­ 71. The literature on the sources of the Tahkemoni is quite vast. For a conve­
Nashim,' ve-'Ein Mishpat'-Mahadurot Mada'iyot bi-Leviyat Mavo', Hilufei Gir­ nient summary, see the dissertation by CAbd ai-Rahman Mar"i, "Hashpaat
sa'ot, Meqorot u-Ferushim" (Jerusalem: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1991), Maqamot al-Hariri Cal Mahbarot Tahkemoni" (Tel Aviv: Bar nan University,
vol. 2. A partial English translation is "The Misogynist;' trans. Raymond P. 1995)·

Scheindlin, in Scheindlin, Rabbinic Fantasies, 269-94. On misogyny (and other 72 • Al-Harizi, The Book of Takhemoni, 8.

themes) in medieval Hebrew literature, see the recent book by Tova Rosen, Unveil­ 73. Ibid., 11. This is re-created in Segal's translation with a trilingual poem by
ing Eve: Reading Gender in Medieval Hebrew Literature (Philadelphia: University of Dr. Leofranc Holford-Stevens in English, French, and Latin.
Pennsylvania Press, 2003). 74. Ibid., 11. Segal recreates this effect by including and omitting the letter "0:'
57. HHSP, vol. 2,71-72; Huss, "Minhat Yehudah," vol. 2,5-6. 75. AI-Harizi, The Book of Tahkemoni. trans. Segal, 216-17·
58. Huss, "Minhat Yehudah," 54ff. 76. The Arabic poems are included in Joseph Sadan, "Rabi Yehudah al-Harizi
59. On fictional devices, see Matti Huss, "Lo ' Haya ve-Lo" Nivra": cIyyun ke-Tzomet Tarbuti," Peiamim 68 (1996): 52-61.
Mashveh me-Maamad ha-Bidayon ba-Maqama ha-vlvrit ve-ha-f Aravit," in MelJ 77. Joseph Yahalom and Joshua Blau, Masi ei Yehudah (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi
qarei Yerushalayim be-Sifrut CIvrit 18 (2001): 58-104. Institute, 2002), 91- 167.
60. On variety, see Dan Pagis, "Variety in Medieval Rhymed Narratives," 78. At the same time, it is believed that aspects of medieval Spanish prose writ­
Scripta Hierosolymitana 27 (Jerusalem: Hebrew University Press, 1978),79-98. ing are indebted to maqama literature, though Arabic is generally considered a
61. The book's title derives from the name of the father of one of King David's more immediate influence than Hebrew.
warriors in II Samuel 23:8; the root of the name (hkm) implies "wisdom." 79. Pagis, "Variety in Medieval Rhymed Narratives:'
62. Hebrew text, see Judah al-Harizi, Tahkemoni, ed. Y. Toporovsky (Tel Aviv: 80. However, Petrus Alfonsi (formerly Moses Sefardi), a famous Jewish convert
1952). For a fine literary translation in English rhymed prose, see Judah Alharizi, to Catholicism, incorporated many maxims, proverbs, and folktales of Hebrew
The Book of Tahkemoni: Jewish Tales from Medieval Spain, trans. and explicated by (and Arabic) origin in his celebrated Disciplina clericalis. See Lourdes Maria
David Sirnha Segal (London: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2001). There Alvarez, "Petrus Alfonsi" in The Literature of al-Andalus, ed. Menocal, Scheindlin,
is also a literal translation by V. E. Reichert, The Tahkemoni of Judah Alharizi: An and Sells, 282-91 and bibliography therein.
English Translation, 2 vols. (Jerusalem: R. H. Cohen's Press, 1965-73). 81. The text survives in the Hebrew translation of Joseph Ben Shem Tov; the
63. A complete list of al-Harizi's translations can be found in Rina Drory, "Lit­ work has been translated into English by Daniel J. Lasker, The Refutation of the
erary Contacts and Where to Find Them: On Arabic Literary Models in Medieval Christian Principles (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992).
Jewish Culture;' Poetics Today 14, no. 2 (1993): 277-302. 82. T. A. Perry, The Moral Proverbs of Santob de Carrion: Jewish Wisdom in
64. Moshe Ben Maimon, Moreh ha-Nevukhim be-Tirgumo Shel Rabbi Yehuda Christian Spain (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987), 19- 20, 11.169-89·
al-Harizi (Jerusalem: Mosad Ha-Rav Kook, 1953). The earlier translation of the Perry argues that the "rose among thorns" motif is intended to alert Jewish readers
Guide by Samuel Ibn Tibbon (produced in collaboration with Maimonides him­ of a Jewish-Christian polemic.
self) may have been too cumbersome for some readers in Provence. 83. Ibid., 96.
 100 JONATHAN P. DEeTER

84· Ibid., 79-80, where a passage is traced to a poem by al-Mu'tamid Ibn Chapter 6
CAbbad of Seville, perhaps through the Hebrew translation of Rabbi Meir Abu­
lafia.
85· Castro, The Structure of Spanish History, 551-57, 572-76. Castro especially
credits Santob for introducing "intimate reality" into Spanish literature.
86. A register of Judea-Spanish used in the translation of Hebrew texts that Medieval Sephardic-Oriental

mimics the syntax of Hebrew. "Ladino" is often used more casually to refer to
other registers of Judea-Spanish. Jewish Bible Exegesis

87. On Judea-Spanish texts in the fifteenth century, see Moshe Lazar, Sefarad The Contributions of Saadia Gaon and

in My Heart: A Ladino Reader (Lancaster, CA: Labyrinthos, 1999): vii-viii.

88. On the Sephardi ballad (and other Judea-Spanish forms), see Samuel G.
Abraham ibn Ezra

Armistead, Joseph H. Silverman, and Israel J. Katz, Folk Literature of the Sephardic
Jews, 5 vols, (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1971-1994).
Isaac Kalimi

Introduction

In medieval times the Jewish Bible exegesis flourished in a variety of loca­

tions of the Jewish Diaspora, namely in Northern France, Provence, Spain,
and the Middle East. During this period, Judaism interacted closely with
Christianity and Islam. This interaction saved Judaism from becoming
fossilized and nonproductive, and forced it to search for new horizons in
Holy Scripture interpretations. Indeed, the disputes between Jews and
non-Jews (especiallyChristians and Moslems) concerning a variety of the­
ological issues in general and exegetical methods of the Hebrew Bible in
particular, motivated many Jewish scholars to study the Bible for its own
merit. They attempted to search and interpret the Scriptures by new
methods that were profoundly different from that of the classical rabbis in
Talmudic and Midrashic literature. Moreover, disputes among several
internal Jewish groups, such as those between rabbinic Judaism and the
Karaites, pushed-particularly the Sephardic Jewish scholars-to search
for new directions in biblical studies and interpretation.
Jewish scholars under the Islamic realm were surrounded by the rich
and well-developed Arabic language and philology. Thus, they were in­
fluenced and encouraged to develop their own literary languages, above
all Hebrew. Here the Quran's interpretative methods and techniques
were utilized for explanation of the Jewish Bible. Likewise, as the Arab
interpreters attempted to harmonize between Greek philosophy and the

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